Headband assembly



S. S- HUDSON June 18, 1968 HEADBAND ASSEMBLY Filed Jan. 4, 1965 TNVENTOR.

SlVEY STARK HUDSON ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,388,708 HEADBAND ASSEMBLY Sivey Stark Hudson, Rte. 2, King George, Va. 22485 Filed Jan. 4, 1965, Ser. No. 422,948 1 Claim. (Cl. 132-9) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A headband assembly for collecting excess hair treating liquid. The headband has a backing element which supports a ring of filler material closely adjacent the head of the subject. The backing element is formed of a flexible material, so that the wall portion may be readily flexed to replace the filler material.

This invention relates to a headband assembly for use in absorbing and collecting excess liquid hair lotion or liquid rinse fluids employed in human hair treatment.

It has heretofore been proposed to tie or fasten a roll, or the like, of absorbent material around the head below the hairline to take up liquid dripping from the hair to which lotion or rinse liquids have been applied. However, experience has shown that frequently liquid taken up by the absorbent material saturates the same and seeps out onto the skin of the face and neck, with irritating effect.

It is the purpose of the present invention to provide a headband assembly comprising a moisture-proof backing element having a surface adapted to snugly fit against the skin below the hairline and an upwardly extending channel forming portion adapted, when applied, to form an annular channel around the head to receive at the hairline a replaceable filler of absorbent material so positioned in the channel that any liquid absorbed by the filler will be confined in the channel and seepage onto the skin of the face and neck prevented.

Sometimes through carelessness in applying the treating lotion or rinse some liquid may drip onto the outer surface of the channel forming member of the backing element and course down over its outer surface, reaching the skin below the assembly, and I may safeguard against this by forming on the exterior of the channel forming member a projecting rib or flange formed to prevent liquid from coursing down over the outer surface of the 7 channel forming member.

Additionally, I may provide the backing member with projections extending into the channel to assist in holding the filler and insuring that liquid absorbed thereby will be retained in the channel of the backing member.

It is, therefore, the object of the invention to provide a headband assembly meeting one or more of the foregoing requirements which may be economically fabricated and which will be easily applied and effective in use in preventing any substantial contact of hair treating liquids with the skin below the hairline of the subject.

Further and more detailed objects and purposes of the invention will become apparent from the following description which will be given in relation to the accompanying exemplary drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view in elevation showing the headband assembly applied in operative position on the subject;

FIGURE 2 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 but showing a portion of the channel forming member of the backing flexed into channel exposing position;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view of the assembly of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view of a modified form of the invention; and

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FIGURE 5 is a detailed perspective view of still another modified form of the invention.

Referring to the drawings and more particularly to the preferred modification shown in FIGURES l to 3, the backing element 10 has a concave surface 11, as shown in FIGURE 3, to be applied to the skin of the subject slightly below the hairline. The concavity of the surface 11 will tend to cause the backing element to adhere to the skin along a substantial portion of the hairline of the subject. The backing element 10 is additionally provided with an outwardly and upwardly extending channel forming portion 12 inwardly curved as indicated at 13. The backing element 10 is preferably formed of an elastic, flexible material normally biased to the full line position shown in FIGURES 1 and 3. However, the upwardly extending channel forming portion 12 is adapted to be flexed downwardly into substantially the dotted line position shown in FIGURE 3 to expose the channel and facilitate the positioning in the channel of the absorbent material 14.

The base element 10, as will be noted by reference to FIGURE 3, has an inner curved wall 15 which together with the channel forming portion 12 is adapted to form an annular channel for receiving the entire lower portion of the absorbent material 14, the upper inner area of which has free and open contact with the hair of the subject .at and above the hairline as indicated at 16 in FIGURE 3.

It will be appreciated that any excess hair treating liquid which is taken up by the absorbent material 14, which is preferably of such a construction that it absorbs the liquid by capillary attraction, will be, as the absorbent material becomes saturated, conveyed downwardly into the annular channel 17 formed between the surface 15 and the channel forming portion 12 of the base 10.

The base 10 is a unitary member which may be molded or extruded of a sufficiently flexible and elastic composition such as natural or synthetic rubber, and initially may be formed in long sequence which may be cut into lengths appropriate to produce an annular band of the requisite length to be applied around the head of a subject adjacent the hairline. Suitable fastening elements such as hooks and eyes may be provided at the ends of a section of the backing 10 to permit the connecting of the ends of a headband section in abutting relation. The joint so formed may be positioned above the forehead of the subject at the high point of application of the annular band.

In FIGURE 2 part of the channel forming portion 12 is shown as flexed downwardly so as to expose the absorbent material 14 for a substantial distance. The absorbent material 14 is preferably formed of circular configuration into sections of appropriate length to be received within the channel 17 of the backing element '10. The free ends of the absorbent ring are tapered as shown at 18 in FIG- URE 2 so that they may be overlapped when applied to provide at the overlapped portion a cross-sectional dimension not substantially varying from the cross-sectional dimension of the ring of absorbent material intermediate its ends.

It will be understood that instead of forming the backing element 10 from elongated strips of extruded or molded material, it may be molded as a unitary annular member. In either case, the assembly provides a flexible elastic backing having a channel forming portion that can be flexed from an absorbent material retaining position to a channel exposing position to facilitate replacing the removable absorbent ring by a fresh one.

Referring to the modified form of the invention as shown in FIGURE 4, the base member in this modification is formed with a downwardly and inwardly projecting pronglike rib 19 extending inwardly from the surface 15 to more or less interlock with the absorbent material 14 to hold the same in position in the channel 17. Likewise in this modification, the free end of the part 13 of the channel forming portion 12 is provided with a downturned flange or bead 20 which also serves to assist in holding the absorbent material 14 in place in the backing element 10 and also to reinforce the free end of the part 13 of the flexible elastic channel forming portion 12.

In the embodiment shown in FIGURE 5 the backing element 10 is provided with a plurality of inwardly projecting ribs 21, 22 and 23 which cooperate to hold the ring of absorbent material 14 in place in the channel 17 and to insure that any liquid taken up thereby is collected and confined in the channel.

Additionally, in this embodiment means is provided to prevent any liquid that may drop onto the exterior surface of portions 12 and 13 of backing element -10 from coursing down over the exterior surface and reaching the skin of the subject below the assembly. This means takes the form of an outwardly and upwardly curved lip 24 which serves to catch any liquid coursing down over the exterior surface of the portions 12 and 13 of the backing element 10.

If desired, openings such as 25 may be formed in the channel forming portion 12 of the backing element 10 so that any liquid collecting behind the lip 24 will be led through the openings 25 to the interior of the channel 17.

It will be appreciated that in all of the several embodiments of the invention any liquid that is taken up by the absorbent material 14 will be led thereby into the channel 17 where it is retained wholly out of contact with the skin of the subject to whom the headband assembly has been applied. The concave surface 11 of the base element 10 acts to seal the assembly against the skin along a substantial portion of the hairline below the area of contact of the ring of absorbent material 14 with the hair, and to thereby prevent the seepage of any liquid down hehind the assembly onto the face and neck of the subject.

Whether the base element 10 is formed from elongated sections with the ends thereof abutted so as to produce an annular member, or molded as a unitary annular.

member, it is readily and easily applied since it is formed from material having suflicient elasticity to permit requisite expansion and contraction to facilitate its application to the subject.

The ring of absorbent material 14 may be placed in position in the backing element 10 either before application of the backing element 10 to the subject or after the backing element 10 is in place. The ring of absorbent material is of course removable and replaceable. Whereas the backing element is of durable, moisture-proof construction, it may therefore have long life.

While the invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that additions, deletions, modifications, substitutions, and other changes in the specifically described and illustrated preferred embodiments may be made which will fall within the purview of the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A headband for collecting and retaining liquid during hair treatment comprising a flexible backing element in the form of a ring, said backing element having a bearing portion with a bearing surface at the inner circumference of said ring, said backing element including a wall portion extending outwardly from said bearing portion, said wall portion being curved inwardly and terminating in an edge spaced from said bearing portion, said bearing portion and said wall portion defining a channel having a liquid receiving opening between said edge and said bearing portion, an absorbent material positioned in said channel, opposed surfaces of said channel having ribs projecting into said channel retaining the absorbent material therein.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,032,898 3/ 1936 Wilson 4-159 2,406,700 8/1946 -Miller 2-183 2,410,391 10/1946 Palmer 132-423 2,507,386 5/1950 Spiegel 132-9 2,640,198 6/1953 Mullen 2--174 LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner. G. E. McNEILL, Assistant Examiner. 

